Chamber and committees

As a result of an anomaly in the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act 2000, only parents whose children will be five or over when they start school are eligible to make a legal placing request. We have made a commitment to amend the legislation at the first available opportunity to ensure that parents of children who are four years and six months and over when they start school are eligible to make a placing request. This anomaly does not affect the entitlement of children who are under five when they start school to a school place. The legislation requires authorities to set guidelines for placing children in their schools generally and to set criteria for accepting legal placing requests where there are more applications for places than places available. However, the legislation does not specify what those criteria might be or their order of priority. It is for authorities to decide what priority they give to different groups of children and therefore practice on taking such decisions will vary from authority to authority. Clearly such decisions have to be made within the existing legal framework, and the answer to question S1W-15097 gave information regarding guidance issued by the Scottish Executive on placing requests in January 2001.

Guidance on this issue was issued to authorities on 16 January 2001 and is publicly available on request. A copy of the guidance has also been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

We do not give specific guidance to authorities on decision making on placing requests. Circular 8/96 outlined the changes in the placing request provisions following the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 and a copy of that has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre. Explanatory notes were published by HMSO to accompany the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act 2000 (ISBN 010591012 0). Circular 1/2000 (referred to in the answer to S1W-15097) is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre. All circulars are also available from the Scottish Executive on request.

As a result of an anomaly in the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act 2000, only parents whose children will be five or over when they start school are eligible to make a legal placing request. We have made a commitment to amend the legislation at the first available opportunity to ensure that parents of children who are four years and six months and over when they start school are eligible to make a placing request. This anomaly does not affect the entitlement of children who are under five when they start school to a school place. In the meantime, authorities have been asked to operate a system to ensure that wherever possible given the legislative restraints, parents of children who will be under five when they start school are given the opportunity to say which school they wish their child to attend. Authorities have been asked to grant those requests wherever possible and allow parents to appeal any decision not to grant them through internal appeals processes.

Entries for the 2001 diet are still being submitted by centres and as a result the information requested is not yet available. I have asked the Chair of the Scottish Qualifications Authority to write to Mr Russell once the information is available.

Under the terms of the Scottish Qualification Authority's (SQA) Management Statement and Financial Memorandum, the Scottish Qualifications Authority is responsible for the development of its management and staffing structures and for human resource management. I have asked the Chair to write to Mr Russell.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority's Annual Statistical Report for 1999 reported that 70 centres offered Latin and 45 centres offered classical studies.

The Scottish Executive commissioned Deloitte and Touche to carry out a review into the exam results issues concerning the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and I refer Mr Russell to the answer to PQ S1W-09374 answered on 28 September 2000. The Scottish Executive has also commissioned Deloitte and Touche to work with the SQA on detailed project planning and expects to make a payment in the region of £80,000 for that work. Work carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the SQA is a matter for the SQA and I have asked the Chair to write to Mr Russell about this.

This is a matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority. I have asked the Chair to write to Mr Russell.

Under the terms of the Scottish Qualification Authority's (SQA) Management Statement and Financial Memorandum, the Scottish Qualifications Authority is responsible for the development of its management and staffing structures and for human resource management. I have asked the Chair to write to Mr Russell.